


Life, as told by me

by WatercolourKing



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Abstract, Internal Monologue, May contain triggers, My opinions, New Year's Resolutions, Now contains death, Poetry, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, This might eventually contain the whole emotional spectrum, may be sad, not emotional death tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-01-15 17:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21257132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatercolourKing/pseuds/WatercolourKing
Summary: This is something I wrote for the "survival story" unit of English.Well, my (old) teacher just told me I had to write a story. No specifications about the "survival" part. So I wrote a random not-survival story. And then I switched English classes and found out that I had received a non-achieved (lowest grade in NZ schools) because IT WASN'T FUCKING SURVIVAL. And then had to re-write the thing because it didn't meet the criteria.Read it and tell me what you think!





	1. Just how it works

You love me

I know that.

And

I think I love you, too, only I'm not sure what love is just yet.

I know I have it and I've given it to you, but I still have even more left because that's

Just how it works.

Yes, I love you.

YOU.

I love you

I love you

I love you

Too much, I think.

It hurts sometimes, but that just makes me love you even more, because that's

Just how it works.

I love you.

Love-You.

Yes.


	2. Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is something I wrote for the "survival story" unit of English. 
> 
> Well, my (old) teacher just told me I had to write a story. No specifications about the "survival" part. So I wrote a random not-survival story. And then I switched English classes and found out that I had received a non-achieved (lowest grade in NZ schools) because IT WASN'T FUCKING SURVIVAL. And then had to re-write the thing because it didn't meet the criteria.
> 
> Read it and tell me what you think!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it isn't clear, Tallah is a dragon. I'll do another chapter later that goes into more detail about the society they left. I hope you guys will enjoy that! Honestly, I've never written down anything about their society so it might be a little funky.

Tall, cold, dead trees loomed above Tallah. They were alone, abandoned in a cold forest they knew nothing of. The bare tree branches around them rustled eerily. Their breathing quickened, and they forcefully slowed it down. You never know what could be listening, what could hear you and kill you. 

Of course, dragonkind was safe in the sky. Return to where you were born and you are forever safe; fly ‘till you sit on the moon. Scales turn to diamond, bright as the stars you stand beside. In the sky, a dragon is invincible.

Even the clouds that obscured the heavens were illuminated grey. Man, the forest was  _ depressing _ ! The trees looked lonely, there wasn’t even life to make a sound.

After an eternity of walking, they chanced upon a dead-looking cave set deep in the equally dead-looking ground. It didn’t look inviting. Regardless, it was shelter and the sun was rising. Queen always said the sun was bad, that it’d burn the scales from your skin and leave your skeleton to be devoured by the dire packs. When the blood moon came and you heard them howling for your blood, disappear so they can't find you. 

The first rays of sun were leaping to kill. Ever hesitant, Tallah stalked over to the cave and curled up, closing their eyes and wishing for sleep. It never came.

\--------- 

Tallah jolted awake, springing up and slamming their head on the roof of the tunnel. They felt like their heart would jump out of their chest and their breath would flutter away like a butterfly that they’d never be able to catch.

A huge growl roared from behind them. They sprang forward, almost falling into the sunlight (deadly, painful, they don’t want to die just yet), and shrank back against the cave walls. At least there was some life. They’d just appreciate something friendly instead of a  **giant bear** . 

The bear. Right. The bear! The sun was almost down, so Tallah could continue their purposeful wandering in a bit. Right now, there was a dangerous bear in their cave. It wasn’t supposed to be there. It needed to go. But it wasn’t leaving; it was advancing, and Tallah didn’t know what to do.

They could try roaring at it, but it roared first so that could be perceived as blatant rudeness. The bear wasn’t supposed to get hurt, rather, to leave. That means clawing at it wouldn’t work. They could try talking, but dragons and bears have different languages, so the chance of success would be low... Oh well. Low is better than no. 

“Uh... hey. Hey, bear! Blood skies, I can’t believe I’m doing this. Anyway. Would you mind either moving caves for a bit or not attacking me until sundown? Um, if you don’t, that’s great. If you do then... I guess one of us will be dying. I’d prefer that not happen. So, no attacking? ...Uhm, I’ll sit here for a while, I guess.” 

The bear backed away, clearly being judgemental and rude. Probably because Tallah didn’t use any of the natural weapons at their disposal, with being a dragon and all. Or maybe the bear’s protecting something! Like cubs! Tallah had a vague memory of red and orange hatchlings looking up at them, bright eyes shining, excited to talk about all the new things they learned that night. But that was at home, and home was… gone.

Oh. Home. How did home function? Tallah vaguely remembered a striking red and black dragon with four wings and cold blue eyes. She was important, she even might have been in charge. They remembered home was a monarchy, with very rigid social classes. Your job and hereditary family determined everything. They weren’t very important, but Tallah liked being a weaver. Tapestries and hangings were fun to make.

\--------- 

The moon was up now, and Tallah had to go. Best to leave the bear in peace. They got up, sauntered out of the cave, and followed the moon. 

The moon was so much brighter at home. 

The red and black dragoness’s eyes were as pale as the moon, which often signified blindness. But she couldn’t be blind, not with eyes that focused and piercing. She was of high standing, too. She was practically dripping with jewels, each one viable to be used as a weapon. She was as dangerous as the day she so hated.

Tallah would never go back. Ever.

They suddenly remembered talk of another kingdom, beyond the walls of their continent. One with dragons of many colours, each colour with its queen. They fought, yes, but not often. And there were prophecies! Destinies! Dragons knew what they were meant to do! No more wandering, hoping for a task. Tallah wished they had a clear purpose. They had nothing, but they would give everything to know if they were of any use. 

-snap- 

-pop- -crack- 

-screeech- 

What was that? It felt like someone was trying to peel up a layer of Tallah’s brain. Of course, it hurt. So much. The I-want-to-scream-but-can’t type of pain, the never-ending kind that warranted bashing one’s head in with a rock. But Tallah wouldn’t do that, ‘cause they were a  _ smart _ dragon and that was dumb. Like, seriously. Who would want to die like that?

When it stopped, they slowly pried open their eyes, and WOAH. Everything was brighter, clearer, and Tallah could  _ think _ . There was nothing fogging up their brain, no figurative mud to drag their talons through. It felt so freeing- like there was nothing they couldn’t do!

They’d never been this far from home before. Maybe they were out of the radius of something? The dragons that came back from Queen’s missions always said that within a certain distance of the palace, their thinking got slow. They always disappeared within a few days, too. Maybe... Queen, her mind... She was so smart, so cold. All the time.

Yes. She controlled them. Made her sovereign subjects do what she wanted. But Tallah was out. They didn’t have to obey. 

Oh. That’s not good.

Without orders, what were they to do? They’d never really thought before, never had to make decisions of any weight. Where would they go next? 

Home? No. Too dangerous, being out of Queen’s hold. Stay here? No, no. Too barren to live. No fruit. That left them with one option- try to find the other kingdoms. 

The night was still young, so Tallah ran towards the sound of water crashing. The others said the other continent was over the ocean, so over the ocean, Tallah would go. 

\---------

After an hour of flying, Tallah started to question if this was a good idea. There was no word of islands, none of how far the continent was, and no guarantee of if the dragons there were friendly. 

Potential enemies aside, what if Tallah didn’t make it there? There was no sign of an opportunity to rest. They were tired already. What if they drowned? Nobody would notice. Maybe flying out here wasn’t the best idea.

Nope. Don’t focus on the wings, focus on the schools of fish. The very pretty rainbow fish that most certainly weren’t going to pass out and die. Tallah wanted to be a pretty dragon-fish, with gills and a powerful tail to swim. Iridescent scales would be a bonus. Maybe dragons on the new continent would have scales like that! That’d be pretty snazzy.

A cold splash of water against their tail brought them back to reality. They were flying low, way too close to the ocean. On top of that, the waves on the horizon looked like they were getting higher. They looked kind of grey-green, too… 

Oh, that’s wonderful. Tallah was so tired they were hallucinating entire landmasses. Not going to die, to drown in the middle of the ocean to be forgotten forever.

Resigning themselves to push harder, to go faster, to  _ not die _ , Tallah powered on, the grey-green waves growing ever higher in the distance.

Then something hard whacked the back of their head and they passed out.

\---------

Tallah opened their eyes to find they were surrounded by strange plants and resting in the canopy of a forest. There were strange silver creatures with four legs and no wings hanging in the nearby trees. They didn’t look threatening. Actually, they looked more like bite-sized snacks.

When Tallah tried to move their wings, a spike of pain shot from their wingtips to their tail. That meant flying was out of the question. That would likely end up being very bad. A downed dragon is a dead dragon, as the story goes.

The ground wasn’t that far away, and there were plenty of fruits and silver creatures, so Tallah figured they would be fine. They just needed to find a cave before the sun came up. Lucky for them, there were three within a few tail-lengths! They were all set.

Tiredly, they went around and collected the safe-looking fruits, gathering them in a pile in a corner of their new cave. They took the skin off a weird long yellow fruit and ate it, setting the empty skin to the side. And when the first rays of sun hit the ground, they shuffled back into their cave, electing to sleep before starting their new life.

A new, safe life, far away from everything painful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still so fucking salty


	3. Ramblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My Grandfather died and his father is in hospice, also happy new year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t actually that sad. at least, it could be sadder. It’s more just melancholy.

So.

my grandpa died. yesterday (well, December 30 if that’s not yesterday for you). he was 60.

what bothers me is that i don’t care. granted, I was never that close to him, and haven’t actually talked to him in over a year (now I won’t ever), and he was abusive to everyone around him that he had any sort of perceived power over (so my grandma, me, my brother, my father, my uncle, his pets), but as his grandson, I still feel like I should feel something about it. relief, at the very least. he can’t hurt anyone now.

i’ve made a card for my grandma. I don’t feel anything about that either. well, I feel callous for not feeling anything but that’s still not feeling anything about the actual event.

because he was sixty, nobody was expecting it, and there’s an autopsy happening probably now. today. so I might post again when I find out how he died. I _do_ know that he had a lot of health problems. he’s been a chain smoker and a very heavy drinker for almost all of his life, he fought in the Vietnam War and had not-really-treated injuries from that, he had prostate cancer and was in chemo, he had acid reflux and heartburn and a hole in his main artery going out of his heart.

-

i don’t feel like it should be a nice day today. it’s not too hot but not too cold either, and it’s sunny but not humid, and the sky is mostly clear and blue and the clouds are unfairly pretty. yes, I’m jealous of the clouds. i’m not sure what for though.

-

happy new year! my resolution is to update Hosuh’s Journal regularly once I have access to a computer. which will be when school starts. I think that’s late January?


End file.
